MSM. was Re: TMI

[Jonathan Lighter]

Since Attila was the leader of a profoundly traditional society without
Social Security, he was clearly a right-wing conservative. Thus 'to the
right of Attlia the Hun" is correct when describing an extreme reactionary.

And since Attila was so far to the right, "to the left of Attila the Hun"
would also mean  "extraordinarily right-wing" - unless qualified as "to the
*far* left of Attila the Hun," which could, in the proper context, simply
mean "pretty damned far right."

JL
On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 12:58 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: MSM. was Re: TMI
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 12:25 PM -0400 10/25/09, Herb Stahlke wrote:
> >So what's the origin of "right/left of Attila"?
> >
> >Herb
>
> I don't know when I first heard it, usually as "((just) to) the right
> of Attila the Hun", but now whenever I see Attila the Hun it always
> makes me think of the joke about what he and Winnie the Pooh have in
> common, so I just called him Attila.  I see there are 213,000 or hits
> for "right of Attila" (only 80,700 for "left of Attila", since that's
> too easy to satisfy), so I'm sure it's been around for awhile.
> Anymore, with a president who is (as the non-MSM assure us)
> simultaneously a socialist, a fascist, a communist, and a Nazi, as
> well as the Antichrist, any linear of the political spectrum becomes
> very difficult.
>
> LH
>
> >On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 11:49 AM, Laurence Horn
> ><laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >>  Subject:      Re: MSM. was Re: TMI
> >>
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>  At 10:22 AM -0500 10/25/09, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
> >>>MSM? Hey, that's the former name of my institution (Missouri School
> >>>of Mines, which in the 1960s became University of Missouri-Rolla,
> >>>which two years ago became Missouri University of Science and
> >>>Technology).
> >>>
> >>>The old alumni never did get over the change of name of their
> >>>beloved MSM.  I'm still having withdrawal symptoms from UMR.
> >>>
> >  >>Gerald Cohen
> >  >
> >>  MSM is also the standard label for "men who have sex with men" or
> >>  "males who have sex with males", a cover term used by those dealing
> >>  with HIV/AIDS and other STDs (it focuses on the relevant behavioral
> >>  component, what one does, as opposed to the self-identificational
> >>  component, who one is, that's irrelevant in the medical context).  I
> >>  keep doing a double take when I pass a bottle in our medicine shelf
> >>  labeled "Glucosamine Sulfate with MSM for Healthy Joints", where the
> >>  reference is neither to men who have sex with men, nor to the
> >>  mainstream media, nor to the Missouri School of Mines, which I didn't
> >>  even know was an option.
> >>
> >>  LH, wondering if Fox and friends are aware of the sexual reading of
> >>  their initialism for the mainstream media--essentially picking out
> >>  any source to the left of Attila--and revel in it.
> >>
> >>>
> >>>________________________________
> >>>
> >>>Original message from Jonathan Lighter, Sun 10/25/2009 9:30 AM:
> >>>
> >>>CNN asks this AM whether some politician is "giving us a bad case of
> TMI."
> >>>
> >>>That means "too much (disagreeable or distasteful) information."
> >>>Nearly 100,000 RGs.
> >>>
> >>>Guests on the same show also spoke without explication of "the MSM."
>  That
> >>>means "the mainstream media," i.e., anything  other than the blogosphere
> and
> >>>Fox News, the marketers who popularized the phrase "mainstream media."
> >>>
> >>>"MSM": Three and a half millions RGs.
> >>>
> >>>JL
> >>>
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